Steeleville loses to Sparta, upsets #1 seed Marion
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Against Sparta, Steeleville could not come up with hits when they needed to. Sparta was aggressive at the plate, putting the ball in play and taking advantage of a couple of Steeleville errors. Sparta took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but Steeleville tied it up in the bottom of the second when Ross Cook was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Steeleville left the bases loaded in the second which was a sign of things to come. Sparta regrabbed the lead in the third scoring 3 runs. While Steeleville continued to leave runners on, Sparta built up a 7-2 lead after five innings. Steeleville got within 7-4 in the bottom of the sixth, scoring on an error and a Jason Becker sacrifice fly. That was the closest they would get in dropping the opening round game.
Steeleville left 19 runners on base in the nine inning contest, including leaving the bases loaded 5 times. Ross Cook, Danny Zobel, and Jason Becker each had 2 hits in the game, while Matt Hubert, Jacob Mayer, Peter Zobel, and Eric Gramenz each collected 1.
On July 20, Steeleville had to battle Marion in an elimination game. In two previous meetings this year Marion had outscored Steeleville 19-0. Steeleville put an end to another possible shut out in the first when Ross Cook scored from third on a double play grounder. The 1-0 lead was short lived as Marion scored 2 runs in the bottom of the first, Steeleville escaped further damage in the inning when second baseman Mark Hostert made a sliding grab of a foul pop up, jumped up and threw a strike to home to get the runner from third trying to score on a tag up. Steeleville starter Jason Becker gave up single runs in the second and third as Marion built a 4-1 lead. Jacob Mayer relieved Becker in the fourth and shut down Marion in the fourth and fifth, but Steeleville could not cut into the lead. Marion got to Mayer for 3 runs in the sixth and Steeleville trailed 7-1.
In the top of the seventh the Steeleville offense got untracked. Mayer opened the inning with a walk and moved to second on a passed ball. Peter Zobel singled to center with one out and Steeleville had runners on first and third. Casey Bollman then hit a little dribbler up the first base line. Bollman hustled down the line causing the pitcher to rush his throw to first and he threw it past the first baseman. Mayer scored and Zobel and Bollman ended up at second and third. With two outs, Cook then doubled to deep right center driving home 2 runs and the lead was now 7-4. Hostert was safe on an error and a wild pitch scored Cook cutting the lead to 7-5. Matt Hubert followed with a single to put two runners on. Danny Zobel then doubled past the left fielder and it looked like both runners would score to tie the game, but the ball rolled through a hole under the fence for a ground rule double making Hubert have to stop at third and Zobel at second. Steeleville now trailed 7-6 going to the bottom of the seventh.
Marion loaded the bases with one out against Mayer in the bottom of the seventh. Hostert came in to relieve and gave up a sacrifice fly before getting out of the inning. Now trailing 8-6 Steeleville went scoreless in the eighth and held Marion scoreless setting the stage for the top of the ninth. Eric Gramenz began the ninth, falling behind in the count 1-2. He fouled off 6 pitches before drawing a walk. With one out Hostert singled to center and then Hubert hit a ground ball up the middle that a diving second baseman knocked down but had no play. Danny Zobel then hit a line drive up the middle that hit off the pitcher. The short stop picked it up and tried to tag second, but a sliding Hubert beat him to the bag. Gramenz scored on the play cutting the lead to 8-7. After the second out of the inning Becker stepped up to the plate. He fell behind 1-2 in the count and then fouled off 5 pitches. After ball two was thrown, Becker found a pitch he liked and hit a single to left to score Hostert and Hubert and give Steeleville a 9-8 lead. Peter Zobel then hit a ground ball up the first base line and got a break when the ball hit the first base bag and bounced over the first baseman's head. Danny Zobel scored from second and Steeleville led 10-8.
Hostert retired the first two Marion batters in the ninth on a ground out and a strike out. Marion then drew a walk and got a single before Hostert got the next hitter to loft a fly ball to center. As the ball settled into center fielder Jacob Mayer's glove, Steeleville came away with the win, eliminating the number 1 seed.
Danny Zobel was 3-5 at the plate with 2 RBIs, Ross Cook had 2 hits and 2 RBIs, Peter Zobel, Mark Hostert, and Matt Hubert each had 2 hits and Jason Becker had the game tying and game winning RBIs. Hostert picked up the win in relief.